I met Carol at the People’s Book Prize Ceremony in London a couple of years ago and I am delighted that Carol is the first author on my blog in 2017.

Welcome Carol E Wyer…

Can you tell me a little about yourself? (inc if you use a pen name and why)

I hate talking about myself but here goes: I became a full-time writer in 2010 when I turned my attention from writing children’s educational books as a hobby, to the adult market.

My first two novels Mini Skirts and Laughter Lines and Surfing in Stilettos won several awards for humour and much attention from the media. Since then, I’ve appeared on numerous BBC radio stations, several international radio stations, NBC television and BBC Breakfast television, and Sky television discussing age-related subjects such as ‘Irritable Male Syndrome’ and ‘Grumpy Old Menopause’. In 2015 I won the prestigious People’s Book Prize Award for Grumpy Old Menopause.

I’ve written articles for, and featured in several national women’s magazines, including Take A Break, Choice,Woman’s Weekly and Woman’s Own who also wrote about my journey to becoming a best-selling author.

Having written ten humorous books –three non-fiction and seven fiction, I changed direction this year, and am writing a series of psychological thrillers, and published by Bookouture, featuring DI Robyn Carter. The first, LITTLE GIRL LOST released in January 2017, has had some rave reviews and shows I have found my true niche. (Pause for an evil laugh.)

Even though I’ve changed genre my publishers felt it was important to keep my own name and not take on a pen name. I had already built up a reputation for entertaining reads and we decided many people who read light-hearted comedies might also read thrillers. It meant I didn’t have to start new Facebook pages, new websites and build a brand all over again.

I can understand why authors take on pen names, as they might be catchier, easier to spell or remember, and allow authors to slide into a new genre without being prejudged on past works. However, keeping my own name seems to be working for me even though no one can remember how to spell WYER.

What is the title and genre of your book?

My latest is the first in a series of gripping crime thrillers featuring DI Robyn Carter and is called LITTLE GIRL LOST

How did you come up with the story?

It’s a very long story and there are many reasons why I chose to write this book, but suffice to say I have always been fascinated by human frailty and psychology.

Many years ago I had a friend who fabricated an entire life/boyfriend/family. She spoke endlessly about her boyfriend and when she got engaged we were all excited for her, especially as we were invited to the engagement party. We clubbed together and bought them a present. We hadn’t met the groom to be and were very keen to do so. Two days before the party, she fell over and claimed she couldn’t move her neck or walk, and an ambulance was called. She was whisked away and didn’t return to college. Her mother wouldn’t answer the door to me when I visited and the engagement party never happened. None of us had any idea she was living a lie until very soon afterwards, when one of our group, discovered a photograph in a waiting room magazine that was identical to the one she had shown us of her boyfriend. She had cut it out from the same magazine. There was no boyfriend and just about everything else she had told us was a lie too. She disappeared shortly after we uncovered it all and we never heard from her again.

The episode remained with me all my life. I honestly believed we were good friends and was astounded she had fabricated a web of lies. I wondered why someone would feel they had to make up an entire life and later when I studied a psychology module, I began to understand how complex we humans are.

LITTLE GIRL LOST is about how a traumatic incident in your childhood can alter the way you think and behave and how we are very good at hiding the past – or at least we think we are.

It has a lovely cover; did you have any say in what you wanted the cover to be?

Bookouture has a team who work on the covers and they have a selection from which they choose the most appropriate. I don’t get to see it until they are happy with their choice. I was over the moon with the cover for LITTLE GIRL LOST. Richard Augustus who has also designed covers for Wilbur Smith and Bernard Cornwell created it.

Do you have any tips for aspiring writers?

Hundreds but let me just say, be patient, believe in yourself and never be in to great a hurry to get your work published. It must be in terrific shape when it goes to print and by that, I mean it must be edited, edited and edited.

|What is your writing routine?

Plotting and planning take a completely different format and I fit them into my ordinary schedule but once I begin writing the book, I start writing at about 8 in the morning and have a break from 11-3, during which time I do all my chores, shopping etc. From 3-6, I work again and then once my husband is fast asleep I skulk off to my office and work most of the night until about 4 or 5. Insomnia really has its advantages.

Do you have an editing process?

Again, Bookouture do my edits. After I send in a script, they work on structural edits. I then get a few weeks to rewrite any areas of the book they are unhappy with, change plots, add sections and that sort of thing to make the book more appealing. Next come line edits and I get a couple of weeks to go through all the typos and errors that have been picked up and change them. I also have to go through carefully myself to see if there are any others that have been missed. It goes back to the editor and onto a proofreader and then is returned again. This time the proofreader might have picked up on repetition of words or factual inaccuracies. It is corrected and returned and comes back twice more for me to check through before it goes to print.

What do you enjoy the most/least about writing?

Creating surprise, twists and turns that will astonish and entertain my readers. I get a genuine buzz out of that. I hate editing! My eyes are usually so tired by the time I finish writing that I miss loads of typos. Thank goodness for Bookouture!

I am passionate about writing and spend all my days behind my laptop but my success would not have come about had I not had good fortune on my side and without the help of those willing to read, review and blog about me and my books. I owe them an enormous debt of gratitude.

Congratulations and thank you for taking some time out to talk to me .